Allsorts Sugar Cookies

Allsorts Sugar Cookies

I guess by now you know I'm absolutely crazy about Allsorts candies. I used them as a colorful topping for this cake when I celebrated my first year of blogging, and then recently on top of these mini cakes. I love their stripey graphic appeal and they're so full of happy color, I feel I should designate them as the new Sprinkle Bakes mascot.

I came up with the idea for these sugar cookies when I was developing an all-in-one cookie dough recipe for an upcoming holiday project. I started playing around with layering techniques and ended up with a stacked, stripey, slice-and-bake chocolate and vanilla dough. Just a trim here and a slice there - voila! An Allsorts twin!

These are pretty simple to make, and most of the real labor is in dividing and coloring the dough. At the end you'll probably have 12+ dozen bite-size cookies. That sounds like a lot but since the cookies are so small they don't take too much time to bake. You can also fit about 50 on a standard baking sheet.

At first I cut the stacked dough into squares. Some cookies baked up fine, others wilted and leaned sideways. I cut them a little thinner and discovered they turn out best when cut to 1/4-inch width (as above).

I tinted the white portion of dough with white liquid food color which you can find here. You could also leave the dough untinted. It will still have a nice contrast without white food color. If you'd like these to have an authentic Allsorts flavor, add a few drops of anise oil to the batter. If you're not a fan of licorice flavor then stay the normal sugar cookie course with vanilla extract.

I used the sugar cookie dough recipes from the SprinkleBakes cookbook for these cookies. The white portion is the vanilla dough (or anise if you prefer), and the black stripe is the chocolate dough variation. I knew that without any chemical leaven it would hold it's shape well during baking, especially when chilled beforehand. I did change one thing though. I swapped the all-purpose flour for bread flour. Sometimes cookies will spread if over-beaten, and with all the mixing-in of food color in this recipe, the bread flour held it's shape best during baking. It also makes these little buttery morsels chewy, which is quite appropriate. I think.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix
the butter and sugar together until just incorporated.

Add the egg and vanilla extract (or anise oil). Mix again on low speed,
stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently as needed.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the bread flour and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture. Mix on low speed until a dough is formed and
there are no longer any streaks of butter in the mixing bowl. The dough will
clump around the paddle attachment while being mixed. If your mixture does not
come together and is crumbly, add ice cold water 1 tbsp. at a time until the
dough clumps. Divide and tint dough with a few drops of food color into the following colors - green, pink, yellow. If using the white food color, place a 10 oz. portion of dough (about 1 cup) into the mixing bowl with 2 tablespoons of the white color. Mix well; add additional bread flour 1 tablespoon at a time until dough is stiff and not sticky. You may choose to leave the white portion untinted if desired.

Turn out each dough onto a sheet of wax paper and top with
a second sheet. Roll dough into an
oblong disc between the papers with a rolling pin. Transfer dough - wax paper and all - to a
large cookie sheet. Wrap the dough
tightly onto the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove top sheet of wax paper from the chilled dough(s) and roll each dough a little
thinner. It should not be sticky. Roll dough to approximately ¼-inch thickness.

To stack dough into Allsorts colors, cut a strait edge on one of the tinted doughs (green, yellow, pink). Cut a 3-inch wide long strip of chocolate dough, place on top of the tinted dough with the strait edges lining up evenly. Top with a same-size length of white (or plain) dough (see picture below). Trim away excess tinted dough and place stacked strip on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Repeat stacking with remaining dough colors. We'll be freezing these, so make room in your freezer for a cookie sheet or two.

To make the round Allsorts, take a scrap piece of chocolate dough and roll into a long rope. Place onto a piece of pink dough that has been rolled to 1/4-inch thickness. Roll pink dough around chocolate rope. Trim away excess pink dough. Place roll on the lined baking sheet with the other stacks of dough.

For the nonpareil covered Allsorts, make a long rope of any leftover dough and cut into round buttons. Place these on a baking sheet. Place all dough stacks, rounds and buttons on the cookie sheet(s) in the freezer for 30 minutes or until very firm. When dough is chilled, cut stacks with a sharp non-serrated knife into 1x1/2-inch pieces with a thickness of 1/4-inch. This doesn't have to be perfect, and you can make cookies bigger or smaller to your liking - have fun with it! Cut the pink roll into coins 1/4 to 1/2-inch thickness.

Freeze the cut pieces for 30 minutes. This will help
the cookies maintain a crisp shape during baking.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes. Do not overcook, they should stay pale to keep their vibrant colors.

Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a
cooling rack. Roll plain buttons in corn syrup and then in nonpareils. Allow nonpareil-covered cookies to dry/set for 30 minutes.

"I swapped the all-purpose flour for bread flour. Sometimes cookies will spread if over-beaten, and with all the mixing-in of food color in this recipe, the bread flour held it's shape best during baking. "

i just love your each and every post..................:D You are a dessert goddess!!! all hail

i just want to put up one question or can be said as a request,please please provide an alternative for eggs, as my boyfriend is allergic to eggs.and i reallyy want to be able to bake some goodies for him as well :) pleaseeeeee :D

I tried these out the other night (I'm going to give them out to friends at school when I get back after thanksgiving break) and they turned out pretty well. The only question I had was how you go about coating the buttons in corn syrup, because when I did it I think I put way too much on and the nonpareils clumped up...any tips for a novice? :)

It's a messy business getting those nonpareils on! I painted a coating on with a little paint brush then rolled them in the sprinkles. It takes a bit of experimenting to get the right amount - too little and they don't stick, too much and they slide right off.

Thank you! I'll be sure to try that next time. I actually wound up making another whole batch because my family ate so many of the original ones over the week! And i got your book while we were out black Friday shopping yesterday, (but mom won't let me have it until Christmas!) I'm really excited, baking is my escape from my every day life of being an Electrical Engineering student. Thanks for having such great recipes all the time!